This project focuses on the interaction of molecules concerned with genetic information transfer. A primary objective is to determine under what conditions metal ions are essential for information transfer, and under what conditions they produce errors in the information and may thus contribute to biological aging. Topics of interest are: (1) The effects of metal ions on the structure of nucleoproteins and chromatin; (2) Age related changes in chromatin structure; (3) Interactions of ribosomes; (4) Dephosphorylation of polynucleotides and dephosphorylation of nucleotides by metal ions; (5) Crosslinking of nucleic acid strands by metal ions; (6) The effects of metal ions on RNA polymerase; (7) Metal ions and cellular aging. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Shin, Y.A. and Eichhorn, G.L.: Reversible change in structure of DNA-poly(Lys) complexes induced by metal binding. Biopolymers 16: 225-230, 1977. Butzow, J.J. and Eichhorn, G.L.: The presence of RNase II in high salt washed E. coli ribosomes: effect on circular dichroism of ribosomal complexes. Nucleic Acids Research 4: 867-876, 1977.